Monday Musings - the Akrasia Effect

After a productive week of getting things under control in my sewing studio, as well as at the quilt shop I am continuing to think about the effects of procrastination.  I read this interesting article about the Akrasia Effect, and it let me to reading several other articles about why we procrastinate and what we can do about the problem.

 One of the suggestions I read was that when we are putting an unpleasant task off, that we can break it down into more manageable bits so that the task isn't as overwhelming.  Another good suggestions was setting a timer for a small amount of time, and see how you feel after that 5 to 15 minutes.  Often after 15 minutes you get into the task and can work longer.  I have found both to be very helpful in motivating me to work on something that I have been putting off!

One of the projects I was able to finish up this week was getting the Row by Row pattern done for the shop, as well as the sample.  It was a bit of a large task, and I wasn't super excited about doing it for a while, but once I got into it I found that I enjoyed it and ended up being enthusiastic about the design in the end.  I'm not going to show you that quite yet, but once it's public I'll share!

Yesterday I finished up my Lewe the Ewe baby challenge quilt for the Quiltsy team - I had finished the top last weekend, so it didn't take too long to quilt it and bind it yesterday.  I only had a fat quarter of the fabric I liked for the binding and had a close call using it!  Only a 4 x 2 inch strip was left after I finished.  Whew!

Hope your Mother's Day was good - I enjoyed mine.  Make some time to quilt today - it's good for you! 

Happy Derby Day!

Kentucky Derby day is a red letter day in this household, which I am glad of because it means no house painting today!  What it does mean is that I can sneak off to my sewing room and work on the baby quilt I need to make for the Quiltsy team Baby Quilt Challenge!  I have half a yard of this sweet fabric to use in a baby quilt:

If you would like to see some of the quilts that have been made so far check out our team Pinterest Board - Lewe the Ewe Quilt Challenge.  Some serious cuteness going on there!

I also want to finish up a custom order for a bible cover.  She had me use the word Trust for the cover and I am loving it!

I've been thinking of making myself a cover for quite a while, so I think I may just make myself one while I am at it!  I was a little intimidated by trying to edge stitch these skinny appliques, but a size 10 needle and Aurifil 50 wt thread in red did the trick!    Now I am going to quilt the pieced background in swirls and I will be ready to assemble the cover. 

Here is where we finished up on the house yesterday.  I'd say we've got less than a quarter of the front to finish.  The garage was terrible - it faces west and was sooo dry with the paint falling off of it!  It really soaked up the paint and looks so much better now - we'll be doing a second coat over the summer, one side at a time.  We'll also be trimming those hydrangeas back and painting behind them...for now we just did around them as best as we could.

We have definitely learned a few things from this process, and yes, they apply to quilting as well!

1.  Don't put off the inevitable.  You are going to have to do it sooner or later, might as well start now.
2.  Don't be intimidated by something hard.  You are capable of more than you think! 
3.  Don't worry about perfection.  Finished but flawed is better than unfinished.

Think about all those UFO projects - can you apply these lessons and get one of them done this month?  Give it a try!